“Italian-Canadian soprano Mary-Lou Vetere stole the show. Her singing not only combined the tonal beauty of Tebaldi with just a touch of Callas’ cutting edge – she’s a dead ringer for Elizabeth Taylor in “Butterfield-8,” including the blue-black “Italian Boy” hairstyle La Liz popularized during the late-Fifties and early-Sixties. Even more important, Vetere caught Violetta’s desperation in Verdi’s “La Traviata,” Leonora’s

over- arching passion in his “Il Trovatore,” Desdemona’s naïve adoration in his “Otello,” and the doomed fragility of Mimi in Puccini’s “La Boheme.” And she enhanced the potency of her singing with gestures and inflections perfectly gauged to the Perelman’s intimate space.”

“No word is left behind, no emotion left untapped. It is someone opening a source and out of it pours, heartbreak and peace, agony and longing; in short, the perfect example of an Italian voice as an instrument of expression, and that message is coming from a native Italian singing in her own language.” Aprile Millo, 2017